Back support



United States Patent John Dumergue Charters 14 Stafford St., Midland, Australia [21 1 Appl. No. 676,939

[22] Filed Oct. 20, 1967 [45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 [72] lnventor [54] BACK SUPPORT 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. CI 128/78, 128/88 [51] Int. Cl A61fS/02 [50] Field ofSearch 128/78,83, 87, 88

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,562,935 11/1925 Whisner 128/78 2,187,323 1/1940 Keltonetal. 2,808,050 10/1957 Ward Primary Examiner-Richard A. Gaudet Assistant Examiner-J. Yasko Att0rney-Linton and Linton ABSTRACT: A back support having a pair of resilient members passing down the side of the body from the axilla to the middle of the thigh, a band passing from one resilient member to the other across the back, a chest member connecting together the upper ends of the resilient members across the chest, and a connecting structure connecting together the lower ends of the resilient members across the front of the body.

Patented Dec. 1,1970 3,543,748

Sheet l or 3 i M mveuro TOHN DUMERGUE CHARTERS n TT 0 R News Patented Dec. 1, 1970 \lllll luv-Euros :romv 'DUMERGUE CHARTERS RT'TORNEYS Patented Dec.

Sheet i of 3 INVE-N'roR 5 E T v R n s Y e a O C! TQM pUMERGUE H BACK SUPPORT 1 This invention relates to an improved back support to be worn especiallyby persons engaged in duties which require the lifting and carrying of objects. g

The object of the present invention is to provide a support which will exert a force which assiststhe action of the extensor muscles of the back of a person wearing the support, through pressure points carefully chosen to be a. as far apart as practicable but still under the clothing in i order to provide the maximum amount of leverage;

b. so located that the minimum amount of sliding on the body by the support is achieved in orderto decrease friction and chafing and thus increase efficiency of the wearer;

. so located that the pressure pads should adjust easily to different postures;- I I so located such that any elastic component of the support should bendsmoothly in thoseareas where most movement occurs;

. so located that there is a minimum amount of restrictive strapping which would be uncomfortable and hot and impair its effective pressure on the pressure points;

so located that should the whole support be elastic it will provide support to the back and hips without restricting the range of movements of either appreciably and yet still give support in all postures throughout the full normal range of movement; and

so located that the pressure points are not moistened by much perspiration and that they can withstand considerable pressure without much discomfort, and the pressure pads spread the load evenly over a sufficiently wide area.

Accordingly the invention resides in a back support comprising a pair of resilient members each of which extends down the sides of the body of the wearer of the support from the axilla to the midtl'ligh'rcgion, the resilient members being provided at the level of the lumbar spine of the wearer with a band stretching across the back of the wearer from one side to the other, the upper ends of the resilient members being connected to each other by a chest member which passes across the chest of the wearer.

The resilient members'extending down the side of the body may be divided and hinged at various positions along their length, and the various portions may be connected by spring means. The resilience of the members may be maximal at any point along their lengths or the resilience may be maximal in the band which stretches across the back at the level of the lumbar spine of the wearer.

The lower end of the resilient members are preferably provided with a band passing around the thigh.

In order, however, that the invention may be more clearly understood, it will now be described with reference to'the accompanying drawings but it will be appreciated that other forms of theinventi on are envisaged besides those embodimerits shown. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is one embodiment of a complete back support as viewed from the front;

FIG. 2 is a back view of the embodiment shown in FlG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of an alternative form of chest harness to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 3; and

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the harness shown in FIG. 4.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 the resilient member passing down the side of the body of the wearer comprises a pair of substantially flat strip members 11 and 12 which extend down the side of the body, one strip member 11 being located above the other 12, the upper strip member 11 being provided at its lower end with an extension arm 13 connected thereto, which arm 13 connected thereto, which arm 13 extends rearwardly to the wearer and is' so shaped so as to follow the contour of the body of the wearer, the free end of the arm 13 being pivotally connected to a plate of flexible material M such as rubber or synthetic plastic, located on the lumbar spine. Similarly the lower strip member 12 is con- 2 nectedat itsupperend to a rearwardly extending extension arm 15 having its free end'pivota'lly connected to the plate of flexible material 14. The extensions 13 and I5 and the flexible material 14 together form the band stretching over the lumbar spine of the wearer ofthe support.

The upper end of the upper strip member ll is preferably provided with a flexible strap 16 which passes around the front of the shoulder and terminates on top of the shoulder where it is secured to a rigid or substantially rigid flat bar member 17 which-is shaped so that the bar lies flat on the body of the wearer and passes down across the back of the shoulder and under the shoulderjoint to a point under the arm adjacent the connection between the strap 16 and the strip member ll from where it extends downwardly preferably to a point adjacent the lower end ofthe strip member ll. Strip member 11 is connected by a pivot'pin at its upper end to bar member 17. The upper ends and lower ends of each of the bar members 17 are interconnected by a chest member which is in the form of a harness 18 formed preferably from flexible webbing in the form of an x.

The lower end of the lower strip member 12 is connected to a connecting member 19 formed from a piece of flexible material preferably two-way stretch elastic material. which as shown in FIG. I is substantially butterfly shaped.

The use of rigid or semirigid material in the member 17 may in some cases prove to be uncomfortable when the back ofthe wearer is flexed. An alternativeform of chest member is therefore shown if FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment the chest harness 18is substantially the same as that illustrated in FIG. 1. The upper ends of the harness 18 located on the shoulder are each attached to a further rigid or semirigid flat bar member 20, said bar member passing down the back over the scapula and close to the spine until it reaches the lower thoracic region where it is attached to a strap member 21 passing around the back ofthe wearer, the ends ofthe strap member 21 being attached to the lower ends of flat rib members 22 which are located on the sides of the body under the arms the upper ends of the rib members 22 being connected by connecting straps 23 to the upper portionof the chest harness IS. The upper 'ends of the strip members 11 are pivotally connected substantially at the mid point of the rib members 22. To keep the bar members 20 in place on theback a flexible connecting strap 24 may be provided as shown in FIG. 5.

The advantage of the chest members shown in FIGS. 4 and i 5 over that shown in FIG. 1 is that there is a tendency with the form shown in FIG. 1 for the top end of the strap 16 to rotate forwards and that portion of the bar member 17 under the shoulder joint to rotate backwards. This does not occur with the form shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

Another method of preventing rotation is to have most of the harness instead of being formed of flexible material being.

formed from a semirigid material. An alternative to this is to have the upper ends ofthe chest harness at the location on top of the shoulders connected to each other by a strip of rigid or semirigid material which passes behind the neck of the wearer. In this case the bar members 20 may be dispensed with and instead the harness may continue over the shoulders and around to the axilla to be attached to the upper ends of the rib member 22.

An alternative to this is to have the lower end of the bar members 20 articulate with the plate of flexible material 14 by means of asliding joint. This may be achieved by having the lower end of each of the bar members 20 sliding within a tubu- Iar socket on the plate of flexible material 14.

The resilient members described as passing up the sides of the wearer of the support are preferably formed of fibreglass or they may be formed of spring steel or any laminated resilient material. Any rigid components of the various chest members, such as the bar 17 and the bars Ztl may be formed of a material which is rigid in one direction only. Such an effect may be achieved by, for example. laminating three materials. The first laminate could be formed of a semirigid material which does not buckle easily such as polyvinyl chloride oneeighthinch thick lyingadjacent the skin. The centre or second laminate could be a slightly resilient material such as a bituminised fibre one-fourth-one-half inch thick. The third laminate that is the laminate furtherest from the skin would be a material which is thin and which buckles easily but which does not stretch. These three laminates are arranged to the correct curvature corresponding to the contours of the body on which they are to lie and their ends then fastened as by riveting, together. Thus the material will not flex beyond a certain point but will adjust easily to ride over any bony partsof the body, will twist easily and will be more comfortable to wear.

I claim:

1. A back support comprising a pair of resilient members each of which is capable of extending down a side of the body of the wearer of the support from the axilla to the midthigh region, a band for stretching across the back of the wearer from one side to the other which band is connected to said resilient members at a position suchthat the band will be located at the level of the lumbar spine of the wearer, a chest member connecting the upper ends of said resilient members at a position for passing across the chest of the wearer, said resilient members each consisting of a pair of substantially flat strip members positioned for being located one above'the other down a side of the body of the wearer of the support, said band consisting of two pairs of extension arms with one pair connected to the lower end of the upper strip members and the other pair to the upper end of the lower strip members and positioned'for. extending rearwardly across the back of the wearer, a plate of flexible material positioned for being located in the region of the lumbar spine of the wearer and having said extension arms pivotally connected thereto.

2. A back support as claimed in claim 1 wherein said chest member consists of flexible straps each attached to the upper end of one of said upper strip members and capable of passing around the front of the shoulder of a wearer and terminating on top of the shoulder, flat bar members each of a configuration for lying flat on the body of the wearer and passing down across the shoulder to the axilla of the wearer from where it would extend downwards to a point adjacent the lower end of the upper strip member,; said flexible straps each being connected to the upper'ends of one of said flat bar members, and a chest harness of a flexible webbing material substantially of an X-configuration interconnecting the upper and lower ends of said flat bar members.

3. A back support as claimed in claim 1 wherein said chest member consists of a chest harness of a flexible webbing material and of a substantially X-configuration at least semirigid flat bar members capable of passing down the back over the scapula of the wearer and close to the spine to a point with upper ends to be located'on the shoulders of the wearer and each attached to one of said flat bar members, straps for passing around the back of the wearer connected to one of said flat bar members. a pair of flatrib members to be located on the sides of the body of the wearer and having lower ends attached to the ends of the strap member and connecting straps connecting the upper ends of said flat rib members to the upper arms of said chest harness. 4. A back support as claimed in claim 3 wherein a sliding plate of flexible material. 5. A back support as claimed in claim I wherein said resilient members each comprise a pair of substantially flat strip members passing down the side of the body of the wearer of the support. said strip members being located one above the other, and said band stretching across the back of the wearer comprises a pair of extension arms connected one to the lower end of the upper strip rn emberand the other to the upper end of the lower strip member, said extension arms extending rearwardly across the back of the wearer to be pivotally connected to a plate of flexible material located in the region of the lumbar spine of the wearer of the su port.

6. A back support as clatme in claim 5 wherein said chest member comprises a flexible strap attached to the upper end of each of said upper strip members said flexible strap passing around the front of the shoulder to terminate on the top of the shoulder at-one end of a flat bar member which is so shaped as to lie flat on the body of the wearer and pass down across the back or front of the shoulder to the axilla from where it extends downwards to a point adjacent the lower end of the upper strip member, the upper and lower ends of each of the flat bar members being interconnected by a chest harness substantially in the shape of an X and formed of flexible-webbing material.

7. A back support as claimed in claim 5 wherein said chest member comprises a chest harness substantially in the shape of an X and formed of flexible webbing material, the upper ends of the arms of the harness being located on the shoulders of the wearer and each attached to a rigid or semirigid flat bar member passing down the back over the scapula and close to the spine to a point in the lower thoracic region for connection to a strap member passing around the back of the wearer, the

in the lower thoracic region, said chest harness having arms ends of the strap member being attached to the lower ends of a pair of flat rib members which are located on the sides of the body under the arms,.the upper ends of the flat rib members being connected by connecting straps to the upper arms of the chest harness.

8. A back support as claimed in claim 7 in which the bar members which pass'down over the shoulder blades and down theback articulate at their lower end with the flexible material located in the region of the lumbar spine by means ofa sliding joint. 

